Lady Gaga Performs for Five Former Presidents at Hurricane Relief Event

Lady Gaga surprised the crowd at Texas A&M University’s Deep From the Heart: One America Appeal benefit for hurricane relief. The evening featured the five former living presidents: Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and Gaga treated the crowd to live renditions of “You and I” and “The Edge of Glory.”

Before singing her Joanne track “Million Reasons,” Gaga said: “It’s about pain, and sometimes life gives us a million reasons to want to give up, but we stick around.”

The singer also made an appeal for mental health care. Her $1 million donation to hurricane relief will specifically provide emotional support to survivors of the recent natural disasters.

“We must also recover mentally, as well as physically,” she said. “We need to help these survivors recover from the trauma of losing their homes, losing their lives, watching everything get washed away … The response to these disasters must encompass the survivors’ mental and emotional needs, as well as their physical well-being.”

After the show, Gaga shared a photo of herself with all five presidents. In the snap, she appears perched between the Bushes.